Forbidden Friendship
by theStarcrest
Summary: Watching Hiccup and Astrid grow ever closer and being treated all the more like a cool pet has pushed Toothless to the end of his patience. Toothless transforms into a human boy in an effort to prove his worth to Hiccup. HiccupxHumanToothless
1. A day in the life

**Plot Summary- After the Green Death has been defeated the dragons begin to discover the full potential of their powers that had been kept in check by their prehistoric leader for centuries. Toothless, being one of the most powerful and experimental of the dragons pushes his limits and realizes that he can shape change at will. Meanwhile, toothless and Hiccup's relationship has become strained as Hiccup continues to treat Toothless like a pet. In an effort to grow closer and prove his friendship status to Hiccup, Toothless transforms into a human to communicate with Hiccup as an equal. However, neither of them are expecting the intensity of their reactions towards one another once they face of as human boys. HiccupxHumanToothless If you don't like Yaoi boyxboy pairings then be forewarned, that's very much what this story is.**

**Rating- T for now. It will most likely go up in the near future due to later chapters.**

**Disclaimer- I do not own HHTYD or any of it's characters or ideas. Also, yes, the title comes from the track name on the soundtrack from the scene where Hiccup and Toothless first meet.**

**AN: In most common legends Dragons have the ability to change their shape at will. For the sake of story integrity, we'll say that the ancient dragon was keeping the dragons under it's control from transforming as a rule. Once it died there's nothing to stop them from changing form anymore, except maybe forgetting how or misuse.**

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The fire was hot on hiccup's face as he pounded at the heated metal. The warmth was a welcome change from the damp coolness of the weather outside the blacksmith's workshop. He could feel the steal giving ever so slightly to the weight of his heavy smithing hammer. Slowly but surely the metal began to take shape under his skilled hands. The fire flared, the hammer smashed, the wind howled outside, the metal glowed. A high pitched mewling growl resounded outside the window and Hiccup almost dropped the hammer and the blazing hot steel into the dirt.

"AGHHH! Toothless! Don't do that!" He laughed, using tongs to drip the hot metal into the waiting bucket of ice water creating a little cloud of steam, and then placed it on the table to dry. He looked over to the window, surprised to find that the sun seemed to have set long ago. He'd been there since just after lunch. No wonder the dragon was annoyed, he must have missed dinner. Not that anyone in the rest of the village, wouldn't have fed Toothless, but the dragon seemed to have an almost possessive need to have Hiccup be the one to bring him food.

"You aren't fooling me. I know you've already snatched more than two dragon's worth of fish from some unsuspecting villagers haul." Hiccup pulled off his bulky metal working gloves and tossed them on the table next to his tools and the cooling project. He walked over to the window and scratched under toothless' jaw just in the right place making him purr like an over grown kitten.

"Okay, I'll call it done for tonight." He patted the top of the blue-black dragon's head and then turned to finish cleaning up the rest of the tools. He brought the rod he'd been working on back into his little work room annex and placed it with the rest of the spare tail fin parts then ran out of the shop and over to his eagerly awaiting Nightfury who was crouched in front of the door rolling his shoulders like an impatient house cat.

"Come on!" He called out to Toothless as he ran by.

_A challenge! _The Nightfury's blood boiled at the challenge. _My Hiccup has been ignoring me all day to hit metal, and now he says I am keeping him waiting! I'll show him! _The dragon's thick wiry muscles bunched and he leapt gracefully off the ground soaring over the teenage Viking's head to land gracefully on the ground a good ten feet ahead of him. He might not be able to fly, but he was still faster than a human boy. He bounded ahead glancing back to make sure Hiccup was following then rounded a corner far ahead and confident he would win the race.

Hiccup paused to watch the dragon's leap with the sort of casual appreciative awe that comes with familiarity. He slowed to a casual jog, knowing that Toothless would be back at his father's house long before he got there even if he decided to full out sprint the rest of the way.

Life after the battle with the Green Death had gone on with much of the casual tendencies as life before the whole let's find the dragon's nest fiasco. The people here don't really change much. They are born strong and grow up to be strong, and the addition of dragons to the village just makes them stronger, so really no surprises there that they'd adapt quickly. Hiccup's leg didn't hurt anymore, and after his adjustments to the prosthetic piece it no longer squeaked or gave him much trouble, except when it was about to rain, which was most of the time.

The hill leading up to his house loomed up in front of him as he ran, and he caught sight of Toothless pacing back and forth impatiently in front of the door. The dragon looked up as Hiccup came into view and bounded down the slick grassy slope, no longer willing to wait for his human to catch up. The boy laughed and caught onto a back spine leaping up onto his usual perch and the two of them quickly ascended the distance between them and the dinner waiting for them inside.

The large oak door boomed shut behind them as they entered the dim antechamber of the tall ceilinged house and ran into the kitchen to scavenge for what ever edible things might be around.

After they had fed themselves a decent meal of fish and bread it became apparent that neither boy nor dragon felt any inclination towards retiring for the night. Hiccup's father hadn't yet returned from whatever chiefly duty had called him away from the house and anyway Hiccup had been given much more freedom after his recent victory over the terrible dragon that no other viking had stood a chance against. After the food had been safely ingested into their ravenous teenage stomaches, the boy and dragon came to a unanimous decision that it was time to fly. Hiccup discarded his plate for cleaning later and ran after the scaly black flapping wings and tail to the doors and outside into the night.

Adrenaline pumped through their veins as they confronted the sky stretched before them, the stars spinning around in a never-ending abyss. Hiccup ran his hand over the Nightfury's side, feeling the dragon's hum of appreciation and tense muscles in anticipation of flight. Hiccup gave Toothless' muscled hide an affectionate pat then ran inside to grab his saddle and false tail fin. Toothless paced, full of impatient energy and he could barely stay still as he was strapped into the saddle and fin. His noises of happy anticipation echoed around the hilltop.

"All right boy! We're ready!" Hiccup laughed, grabbing hold of the saddle and vaulting himself in. Toothless howled in delight and sprang into movement even before Hiccup was fully ready in place. "Woah there!" Hiccup grabbed hold, shoving his false foot into the stirrup and clutching at the dragon's neck. He didn't mind so much though. The freedom of the flight was taking hold and he was forgetting all else except the sky around them and the creature, his friend, that aired them both.

"Hiccup, hey Hiccup!" The shout came from below, calling for attention in a commanding but friendly way. Hiccup looked down, snapped out of the adrenaline trance.

"Astrid!" He called out and waved. "Hey Toothless, let's go back and get Astrid." Eyes narrowed and hackles raised in aggravation, Toothless kept flying. He didn't want to stop for the girl. He wanted to fly, just him, the sky, and his Hiccup who made his flight possible, no one else.

"Toothless!" Hiccup complained, looking back as Astrid shrank into a small, dejected spot behind them in the distance. He sighed and turned back to face the dragon, mood ruined. He expected he'd get punched later for leaving her behind. They flew in silence for awhile, the initial glory having been stripped away leaving an uncomfortable tension in it's wake.

They landed in the familiar enclosed valley near the shore of the pond, neither of them in any mood for exploration. As soon as they touched the earth Hiccup jumped from the saddle and strode to face Toothless with an angry set to his usually less than threatening jaw.

"What is wrong with you? I thought you liked Astrid now?" He seemed exasperated. Toothless harrumphed and turned his back on the boy. It wasn't _his_ fault. _She_ had come along and ruined everything.

"Aw, come on Toothless, I know you just wanted to fly, but couldn't Astrid have come too?"

Toothless lowered his head to look at Hiccup, his eyes beseeching. _You don't understand._ His expression tried to say for him. _I wish I could make you understand._


	2. Something cracks

**AN: In this chapter I decided to time jump, because although I plan on going in and filling in all the trivial plot stuff in between the first chapter and now at some point in the future, I was quite frankly bored with it. I figured if I was bored with it I'm sure you all were, or would have been, too. Basically all those chapters that could have been written in between then and now can be summarized with, "and Hiccup keeps treating Toothless like a pet while Toothless grows ever more impatient, annoyed, and determined to to prove his equal if not better intelligence to Hiccup."**

**Also, I still do not own HTTYD. :P**

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((another time in the future.....))

The dark of the room was inky and thick, almost tangible like fog. Hiccup drew a deep breath wondering why he was even afraid of his own room now.

"Toothless?" He called out into the darkness. He hadn't seen the dragon for a few hours, and he was beginning to worry, seeing as how the Nightfury hadn't left his side for months except when he was busy at the forge. There was a rustling noise from somewhere deep in the room, but it could have been mice or something equally as harmless... Thunder boomed outside and hiccup emitted a quite unmanly squeak and cowered back against the door. After a few minutes, and feeling kind of stupid, he straightened up and tried to regain his dignity, too used to this kind of situation to change his behavior just because he was alone.

"Ugh, this is stupid. It's just thunder." He pulled on his hair a bit as if trying to sort his nerves back into place, then took a few steps out into the room. The candle was on a table only a few steps away. He didn't realize it would be so dark in here or he'd have brought a candle with him in the first place. He reached out a hand blindly in the dark, groping for the candle stick and it's box of matches, but nothing met his searching fingers. "Oh, Thor, this is just my luck. It's pouring rain outside, it's too dark to see my boots, and I'm afraid of my own stupid room. How pathetic of a Viking can I possibly be?"

He sounded as if he was trying to reassure himself, or pep talk himself into walking further into the room. It didn't seem to be working. He was just on the verge of turing tail and running out into the much safer well-lit hallway, when a match cracked and a small flame exploded into a tiny existence across the room.

Silhouetted in the dim golden light was a willowy figure with strange semi-translucent appendages that caught and refracted the light through veiny membranes.

Hiccup screamed. And kept screaming like a little girl with a spider dangled in front of her face. Unfortunately for him it was raining too loud outside for anyone to hear him and come running.

Lightening cracked across the sky and the back of the figure was revealed almost too briefly for Hiccup to register what he was seeing. Slowly the figure turned and it's details became rimmed in the soft candle glow. It's features were delicate, almost reptilian, the side of it's face glittered with a fine speckling of dark blue scales, and it's eyes flashed yellow green in the dark. It's body was dark and sinewy growing steadily paler and less monstrous. It, he, it became apparent, was tall and thin and perched on the end of Hiccup's bed. It's well muscled limbs seemed almost uncomfortable in natural human positions and he was hunched almost like a bird about to take flight off the end of the bed frame. The appendages, wings, that had so frightened Hiccup moments before stretched and then folded loosely onto the creature's back.

Hiccup was frozen in terror watching this pale being flash a fanged tooth smile from across the empty room's expanse of shadows between them. His throat was done screaming, but the fear of impending death hadn't yet receded from the young Viking's list of possibilities for the near future.

"Hiiiiicup." The voice was a happy almost purr. It reminded Hiccup of something, something very-

"By the balls of a great leaking bull cow, Toothless?!" The words had slipped out before Hiccup had time to register what he was saying, but by the time he was finished he was oddly positive of their truth.

"How...?" He began to ask, but was interrupted by Toothless suddenly standing off the bed and walking across the floor. He was holding the candle in one hand and by it's light Hiccup noticed, unsettled, very naked. He felt himself blushing crimson and was glad for the dark of the room and he promptly turned and scuttled over to a heavy chest of drawers by the wall grabbing the first pair of trousers his hands came across and turning around to thrust them blindly at the newly all too humanized dragon.

"Hiccup?" Toothless' questioning voice stated again as he looked at the obviously very uneasy boy who had averted his gaze and thrust something strange at him. This isn't exactly the reaction he had expected from his human at the discovery that they could now talk and be friends as humans together. His lower lip jutted out as he stared at his human accusingly. He took the pro offered piece of fabric and let it unfold in his hands. It was the strange fabric the vikings wore over their lower limbs.

_Oh, I get it. _He began to laugh as he realized what his human was so unsettled about. This must be what the humans use to cover their reproductive parts. How unusual and intriguing.

"Will you just put the pants on, please?" Hiccup asked somewhat aggravated that he seemed to be the only one unsettled by this situation here.

Toothless struggled for a few moments, unaccustomed to how human clothing worked, but managed to get decent within a relatively short amount of time. Once the task was finished he turned his gaze upon the boy standing before him. Hiccup hadn't turned back yet, afraid of chancing another glimpse of too much of Toothless. How peculiar humans were to the dragon. Things like modesty and embarrassment weren't part of his scope of existence.

He reached up and cupped hiccup's face in the palm of one hand, turning his head to face him. He could feel the warmth of the boy's cheek against his hand and he marveled at how warm his human was compared to the cool air all around. Hazel eyes met light green in the dark, both reflecting the candle light, and both wide in the silence. Neither boy was willing to speak a first. The moment was to potent with an odd sense of unreality. Hiccup couldn't believe he was standing casually in front of a tall boy maybe a year or so older in looks than himself who used to be a dragon only this past morning. Toothless couldn't comprehend how solid and equal his human looked in this form. Instead if beginning a tiny irregular friend, be was now almost the same size and build. He let go of hiccup's face in favor of a new whim. He couldn't fight the urge to take Hiccup's limbs and compare them to his. He slid up beside the boy and placed his arm next to his, then pulled up on his long green sleeve till both their hands were dangling in the air before their faces. He turned their hands till their palms were resting against one another and splayed their fingers. Toothless' were longer and his nails were tiny solid claws, whereas Hiccups' were shorter and his nails were worn and short from metal work, and he had a few calluses on his finger pads and palms.

Their hands dropped into the silence between them.

"This is... unexpected." Hiccup's voice seemed brash in the wake of the quiet awe of before.

Toothless tilted his head to the side a bit a loss to Hiccup's seemingly scared and unreceptive behavior.

"Is Hiccup not happy?" The dragon's voice was quiet and reminiscent of the catlike noises he used to make in his dragon form. "I changed for Hiccup. Now we can talk, and play and be friends like Hiccup and Astrid." His voice was almost beseeching as he searched the other boy's face for some hint of approval or happiness.

All he found there was a sort of disgruntled bewilderment. Toothless found himself becoming angry with the smaller boy. He had gone through all this trouble to learn how to change for him and Hiccup didn't even seem happy about it. He took a step back, suddenly wanting distance between them his wings were twitching nervously and his stomach ached.

"Toothless, wait." Hiccup reached out taking a few steps after the dragon-boy to catch his bare sinewy arm between his fingers. He didn't know why exactly, but he didn't want Toothless to walk away. "I am happy, I'm just... surprised." Toothless looked back over his shoulder eyes slightly narrowed, but hope making them look vulnerable and non-threatening.

"What- I mean, how did this happen? How did you...?"

Toothless still wasn't completely satisfied with Hiccup's apology and he wasn't feeling inclined to lengthy explanations.

"Doesn't matter. It was easy. Humans aren't so difficult. If I wanted to be a centipede, now that would have been difficult." Toothless spun around quickly and leaned forward till their faces were only inches apart. From this close he could count tiny freckles like constellations. He squinted and his face formed into a serious mask for a few moments before a few tiny freckles appeared spattered across his own nose. He smiled triumphantly into Hiccup's surprised face, then breathed out deeply and let the freckles fade away.

"Woah." Hiccup watched in amazement. He was so caught up in the wonder of the moment that he no longer seemed perturbed by their unusual proximity. He stared into Toothless smooth delicate featured face, as if searching for signs of the Dragon he felt he knew so well. Toothless was still smiling, but the potency of the situation had crept back in and stolen away any words that might have been spoken only moments before. Hiccup didn't understand, but he couldn't look away and his breath was coming lighter and shorter as if he was afraid of disturbing the stillness that surrounded them. Toothless had slowly leaned in the imperceptible distance to repeat the motion he'd seen Hiccup and Astrid do many times in the past during moments like this one. They were basically pressed straight up against each other as their lips met as if they had a mind of their own. An electric bolt of sensation exploded through them and Hiccup let out a small moan of surprise and pleasure as Toothless hooked his fingers in the back of Hiccup's belt and pulled him up tight against him. They were locked together for what felt like a breathless eternity before Hiccup's eyes flew open, the whites showing around their horrified hazel cores and he tore himself away stumbling back.

"WOAH! Woah... woah! Hold on, what was that?!" He was still feeling the residual flutters of warmth in his gut as he looked up into the face of the confused and slowly becoming more hurt face of the dragon boy. This was, this was wrong, this was.... Kissing Astrid had never felt like this. With her it had always been confusing, a bit unsettling, but nice. This, this had been earth shattering, gut wrenching fire. Toothless took a step towards Hiccup hands spread as if to calm him, but Hiccup just blushed furiously and stepped back, his shoulders thumping against the solid wooden wall. Toothless' wide pale green eyes watched him imploringly. Hiccup stared back helplessly. His mouth was open slightly in surprise and he seemed utterly defenseless and confused.

"Is h-"

"What-" The both started at the same time. Toothless smiled, but hiccup looked away blushing and didn't see. _Friends like Hiccup and Astrid... _Toothless words repeated themselves over in Hiccup's mind.

"Oh." Hiccup looked back at Toothless, sudden comprehension dawning all over his face. "Astrid isn't my friend, well I mean she is my friend, but she's more than that... she's like my girlfriend I guess. So we can't be friends like her and me. I mean, we can be friends, but not like-" Toothless was closing the distance between them again, and Hiccup couldn't help but feel somewhat like a cornered mouse unable to find an escape route from the larger more graceful cat.

"Will Hiccup be my girlfriend?" Toothless asked as if finding the answer to all their problems.

"No, I'm a boy, I couldn't be your girlfriend. I'd be a boyfriend because I'm a boy, but that doesn't happen we can't-"

"Boyfriend." Toothless smiled and his smile lit up his face in the same goofy innocent way it had as a Dragon, and Hiccup fell silent. He fought the urge to swallow the growing lump in his throat that was restricting his ability to speak, and his stomach had dropped out abandoning the fight and leaving the very shaken viking boy to fight his losing battle alone.

"Yeah..." Hiccup heard himself respond without realizing he'd said anything. After he'd said it he wasn't sure if he was affirming the correct use of the term, or agreeing to something he knew he shouldn't be agreeing too.

Toothless let out a rumbling purr of happiness and caught his prize by the fuzzy vest, sinking his fingers into the fur and pulling the suddenly paralyzed form of Hiccup towards him. "My boyfriend." Toothless repeated, breathing the words into Hiccup's ear as if claiming his victory. Hiccup shivered feeling a pleasant crawling sensation down his spine and all the way into his toes. A fiery heat passed with the shiver and landed to set up permanent residence in his lower stomach. The corner of Toothless' mouth turned up in a smile and he watched Hiccup's face flush. He turned his head to playfully nip Hiccup's ear lobe and then breathed a line of light kisses down his jaw and caught Hiccup's mouth in his own again before Hiccup to could find the words to protest. Toothless was delighted to feel Hiccup shiver and melt into his arms.

_Mine._ Toothless repeated to himself, and he knew it was true, even if Hiccup didn't yet.


End file.
